Buddhism for beginners- including agnostic and secular Buddhism -

Introduction

There is a good deal of misunderstanding about Buddhism, particularly in Western countries. This
site explains what it is and what is not, how to become a Buddhist and how to practise
Buddhism. Buddhism is described in both its traditional aspect and in modern terms, with
application to modern lifestyles.

The Origin of Buddhism

The Buddha-to-be was born Siddhattha Gotama about 2,600 years ago as a prince of the Sakya clan near what is now the
Indian-Nepalese border.
To preserve the monastic order, the Buddha set down 227 rules for a
bhikkhu (monk) to observe and 311 for a bhikkhuni (nun).
Before his death (known as parinirvana) he said that some minor
rules could be changed.

Within a short time of his passing away there was disagreement over
what could be changed and different sects emerged. The more reformist
sects later called themselves Mahayana (greater vehicle) and referred
to the conservative sects as Hinayana (lesser vehicle). The only
conservative sect remaining today is Theravada, which is prevalent in
Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. Theravada recognises the Pali Canon as
its scriptures and a variety of ancient Theravadin commentaries.

Whereas Theravada spread to the south and east, Mahayana moved to the
northwest through what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan and then across
Central Asia to China, Tibet, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. For historical
reasons, the language of Mahayana scriptures was Sanskrit and that of
Theravada was Pali. Hence the difference in spelling of some common
Buddhist terms: Nirvana/Nibbana, Sutra/Sutta, Karma/Kamma,
Dharma/Damma, etc. Westerners are more familiar with Mahayana Sanskrit
terms.

Mahayana also has its own scriptures in addition to the Pali Canon, the
most important of which is the Lotus Sutra. These sutras are purported
to be the Buddha's secret "higher" teachings, which were handed down
only to those who were ready for them - an idea emphasised at the
beginning of the Lotus Sutra.

Apart from a modified monastic code which made monasticism possible in
harsh environments such as Tibet, Mahayana emphasises the Bodhisattva
Ideal, where a man vows not to achieve final enlightenment until all
sentient beings have been saved. So anyone helping others to achieve
enlightenment can be considered a bodhisattva. In Theravada, the term
bodhisattva usually refers only to the historical Buddha in his
previous lives. Historically, some Mahayanists consider Theravadins
to be selfish for seeking enlightenment only for themselves, while
some Theravadins consider Mahayanists to have deviated from what the
Buddha taught.

For more than 2,500 years, the religion we know today as Buddhism has
been the primary inspiration behind many successful civilizations, the
source of great cultural achievements and a lasting and meaningful
guide to the very purpose of life for millions of people. Today, large
numbers of men and women from diverse backgrounds throughout our world
are following the Teachings of the Buddha. So who was the Buddha and
what are His Teachings?

The Buddha

The man who was to become the Buddha was born Siddhattha Gotama around
2,600 years ago as a Prince of a small territory near what is now the
Indian-Nepalese border. Though he was raised in splendid comfort,
enjoying aristocratic status, no amount of material pleasure could
satisify the enquiring and philosophic nature of the young man. At the
age of 29 he left palace and family to search for a deeper meaning in
the secluded forests and remote mountains of North-East India. He
studied under the wisest religious teachers and philosophers of his
time, learning all they had to offer, but he found it was not enough.
He then struggled alone with the path of self- mortification, taking
that practice to the extremes of asceticism, but still to no avail.

Then, at the age of 35, on the full moon night of May, he sat beneath
the branches of what is now known as the Bodhi Tree, in a secluded
grove by the banks of the river Neranjara, and developed his mind in
deep but luminous, tranquil meditation. Using the extraordinary clarity
of such a mind with its sharp penetrative power generated by states of
deep inner stillness, he turned his attention to investigate upon the
hidden meanings of mind, universe and life. Thus he gained the supreme
Enlightenment experience and from that time on he was known as the
Buddha. His Enlightenment consisted of the most profound and
all-embracing insight into the nature of mind and all phenomena. This
Enlightenment was not a revelation from some divine being, but a
discovery made by Himself and based on the deepest level of meditation
and the clearest experience of the mind. It meant that He was no longer
subject to craving, ill-will and delusion but was free from their
shackles, having attained the complete ending of all forms of inner
suffering and acquired unshakeable peace.

The Teachings of the Buddha

Having realized the goal of Perfect Enlightenment, the Buddha spent the
next 45 years teaching a Path which, when diligently followed, will
take anyone regardless of race, class or gender to that same Perfect
Enlightenment. The Teachings about this Path are called the Dhamma,
literally meaning "the nature of all things" or "the truth underlying
existence". It is beyond the scope of this pamphlet to present a
thorough description of all of these Teachings but the following 7
topics will give you an overview of what the Buddha taught:

1. The way of Inquiry

The Buddha warned strongly against blind faith and encouraged the way
of truthful inquiry. In one of His best known sermons, the Kalama
Sutta, the Buddha pointed out the danger in fashioning one's beliefs
merely on the following grounds: on hearsay, on tradition, because many
others say it is so, on the authority of ancient scriptures, on the
word of a supernatural being, or out of trust in one's teachers,
elders, or priests. Instead one maintains an open mind and thoroughly
investigates one's own experience of life. When one sees for oneself
that a particular view agrees with both experience and reason, and
leads to the happiness of one and all, then one should accept that view
and live up to it!

This principle, of course, applies to the Buddha's own Teachings. They
should be considered and inquired into using the clarity of mind born
of meditation. Only when one sees these Teachings for oneself in the
experience of insight, do these Teachings become one's Truth and give
blissful liberation.

The traveller on the way of inquiry needs the practice of tolerance.
Tolerance does not mean that one embraces every idea or view but means
one doesn't get angry at what one can't accept.

Further along the journey, what one once disagreed with might later be
seen to be true. So in the spirit of tolerant inquiry, here are some
more of the basic Teachings as the Buddha gave them.

2. The Four Noble Truths

The main Teaching of the Buddha focuses not on philosophical
speculations about a Creator God or the origin of the universe, or on a
heaven world ever after. The Teaching, instead, is centred on the
down-to-earth reality of human suffering and the urgent need to find
lasting relief from all forms of discontent. The Buddha gave the simile
of a man shot by a poison-tipped arrow who, before he would call a
doctor to treat him, demanded to know first who shot the arrow and
where the arrow was made and of what and by whom and when and where ...
this foolish man would surely die before his questions could be well
answered. In the same way, the Buddha said, the urgent need of our
existence is to find lasting relief from recurrent suffering, which
robs us of happiness and leaves us in strife.

Philosophical speculations are of secondary importance and, anyway,
they are best left until after one has well trained the mind in
meditation to the stage where one has the ability to examine the matter
clearly and find the Truth for oneself.

Thus, the central Teaching of the Buddha, around which all other
teachings revolve, is the Four Noble Truths:

That all forms of being, human and otherwise, are afflicted with
suffering.

That the cause of this suffering is Craving, born of the illusion
of a soul.

That this suffering has a lasting end in the Experience of
Enlightenment (Nibbana) which is the complete letting go of the
illusion of soul and all consequent desire and aversion.

That this peaceful and blissful Enlightenment is achieved through a
gradual training, a Path that is called the Middle Way or the
Eightfold Path.

It would be mistaken to label this Teaching as 'pessimistic' on the
grounds that it begins by centring on suffering. Rather, Buddhism is
'realistic' in that it unflinchingly faces up to the truth of life's
many sufferings and it is 'optimistic' in that it shows a final end of
the problem of suffering - Nibbana, Enlightenment in this very life!
Those who have achieved this ultimate peace are the inspiring examples
who demonstrate once and for all that Buddhism is far from pessimistic,
but it is a Path to true Happiness.

3. The Middle Way or Eightfold Path

The Way to end all suffering is called the Middle Way because it avoids
the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification. Only
when the body is in reasonable comfort but not over-indulged has the
mind the clarity and strength to meditate deeply and discover the
Truth. This Middle Way consists of the diligent cultivation of Virtue,
Meditation and Wisdom, which is explained in more detail as the Noble
Eightfold Path.

Right Understanding

Right Thought

Right Speech

Right Action

Right Livelihood

Right Effort

Right Mindfulness

Right Concentration

Right Speech, Action and Livelihood constitute the training in Virtue
or Morality. For a practising Buddhist it consists of maintaining the
five Buddhist Precepts, which are to refrain from:

Deliberately causing the death of any living being;

Intentionally taking for one's own the property of another;

Sexual misconduct, in particular adultery;

Lying and breaking promises;

Drinking alcohol or taking stupefying drugs which lead to lack of
mindfulness.

Right Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration refer to the practice of
Meditation, which purifies the mind through the experience of blissful
states of inner stillness and empowers the mind to penetrate the
meaning of life through profound moments of insight.

Right Understanding and Thought are the manifestation of Buddha-Wisdom
which ends all suffering, transforms the personality and produces
unshakeable serenity and tireless compassion.

According to the Buddha, without perfecting the practice of Virtue it
is impossible to perfect Meditation, and without perfecting Meditation
it is impossible to arrive at Enlightenment Wisdom. Thus the Buddhist
Path is a Gradual Path, a Middle Way consisting of Virtue, Meditation
and Wisdom as explained in the Noble Eightfold Path leading to
happiness and liberation.

4. Kamma

Kamma means 'action'. The Law of Kamma means that there are inescapable
results of our actions. There are deeds of body, speech or mind that
lead to others' harm, one's own harm, or to the harm of both. Such
deeds are called bad (or 'unwholesome') kamma. They are usually
motivated by greed, hatred or delusion. Because they bring painful
results, they should not be done.

There are also deeds of body, speech or mind that lead to others' well
being, one's own well being, or to the well being of both. Such deeds
are called good (or 'wholesome') kamma. They are usually motivated by
generosity, compassion or wisdom. Because they bring happy results,
they should be done as often as possible.

Thus much of what one experiences is the result of one's own previous
kamma. When misfortune occurs, instead of blaming someone else, one can
look for any fault in one's own past conduct. If a fault is found, the
experience of its consequences will make one more careful in the
future. When happiness occurs, instead of taking it for granted, one
can look to see if it is the result of good kamma. If so, the
experience of its pleasant results will encourage more good kamma in
the future.

The Buddha pointed out that no being whatsoever, divine or otherwise,
has any power to stop the consequences of good and bad kamma. The fact
that one reaps just what one sows gives to the Buddhist a greater
incentive to avoid all forms of bad kamma while doing as much good
kamma as possible.

Though one cannot escape the results of bad kamma, one can lessen their
effect. A spoon of salt mixed in a glass of pure water makes the whole
very salty, whereas the same spoon of salt mixed in a freshwater lake
hardly changes the taste of the water. Similarly, the result of a bad
kamma in a person habitually doing only a small amount of good kamma is
painful indeed, whereas the result of the same bad kamma in a person
habitually doing a great deal of good kamma is only mildly felt.

This natural Law of Kamma becomes the force behind, and reason for, the
practice of morality and compassion in our society.

5. Rebirth

The Buddha remembered clearly many of His past lives. Even today, many
Buddhist monks, nuns and others also remember their past lives. Such a
strong memory is a result of deep meditation. For those who remember
their past life, Rebirth is an established fact which puts this life in
a meaningful perspective.

The Law of Kamma can only be understood in the framework of many
lifetimes, because it sometimes takes this long for Kamma to bear its
fruit. Thus Kamma and Rebirth offer a plausible explanation to the
obvious inequalities of birth; why some are born into great wealth
whereas others are born into pathetic poverty; why some children enter
this world healthy and full-limbed whereas others enter deformed and
diseased... The fruits of bad Kamma are not regarded as a punishment
for evil deeds but as lessons from which to learn, for example, how
much better to learn about the need for generosity than to be reborn
among the poor!

Rebirth takes place not only within this human realm. The Buddha
pointed out that the realm of human beings is but one among many. There
are many separate heavenly realms and grim lower realms, too, realms of
the animals and realms of the ghosts. Not only can human beings go to
any of these realms in the next life, but we can come from any of these
realms into our present life. This explains a common objection against
Rebirth that argues "How can there be Rebirth when there are ten times
as many people alive today than there were 50 years ago?" The answer is
that people alive today have come from many different realms.

Understanding that we can come and go between these different realms,
gives us more respect and compassion for the beings in these realms. It
is unlikely, for example, that one would exploit animals when one has
seen the link of Rebirth that connects them with us.

6. No Creator God

The Buddha pointed out that no God or priest nor any other kind of
being has the power to interfere in the working out of someone else's
Kamma. Buddhism, therefore, teaches the individual to take full
responsibility for themselves. For example, if you want to be wealthy
then be trustworthy, diligent and frugal, or if you want to live in a
heaven realm then always be kind to others. There is no God to ask
favours from, or to put it another way there is no corruption possible
in the workings of Kamma.

Do Buddhists believe that a Supreme Being created the universe?
Buddhists would first ask which universe do you mean? This present
universe, from the moment of the 'big bang' up to now, is but one among
countless millions in Buddhist cosmology. The Buddha gave an estimate
of the age of a single universe-cycle of around 37,000 million years,
which is quite plausible when compared to modern astrophysics. After
one universe- cycle ends another begins, again and again, according to
impersonal law. A Creator God is redundant in this scheme.

No being is a Supreme Saviour, according to the Buddha, because whether
God, human, animal or whatever, all are subject to the Law of Kamma.
Even the Buddha had no power to save. He could only point out the Truth
so that the wise could see it for themselves. Everyone must take
responsibility for their own future well-being, and it is dangerous to
give that responsibility to another.

7. The Illusion of Soul

The Buddha taught that there is no soul, no essential and permanent
core to a living being. Instead, that which we call a 'living being',
human or other, can be seen to be but a temporary coming together of
many activities and parts - when complete it is called a 'living
being', but after the parts separate and the activities cease it is not
called a 'living being' anymore. Like an advanced computer assembled of
many parts and activities, only when it is complete and performs
coherent tasks is it called a 'computer', but after the parts are
disconnected and the activities cease it is no longer called a
'computer'. No essential permanent core can be found which we can truly
call 'the computer', just so, no essential permanent core can be found
which we can call 'the soul'.

Yet Rebirth still occurs without a soul. Consider this simile: on a
Buddhist shrine one candle, burnt low, is about to expire. A monk takes
a new candle and lights it from the old. The old candle dies, the new
candle burns bright. What went across from the old candle to the new?
There was a causal link but no thing went across! In the same way,
there was a causal link between your previous life and your present
life, but no soul has gone across.

Indeed, the illusion of a soul is said by the Buddha to be the root
cause of all human suffering. The illusion of 'soul' manifests as the
'Ego'. The natural unstoppable function of the Ego is to control. Big
Egos want to control the world, average Egos try to control their
immediate surroundings of home, family and workplace, and almost all
Egos strive to control what they take to be their own body and mind.
Such control manifests as desire and aversion, it results in a lack of
both inner peace and outer harmony. It is this Ego that seeks to
acquire possessions, manipulate others and exploit the environment. Its
aim is its own happiness but it invariably produces suffering. It
craves for satisfaction but it experiences discontent. Such deep-
rooted suffering cannot come to an end until one sees, through deep and
powerful meditation, that the idea 'me and mine' is no more than a
mirage.

Are rebirth and karma for real?

Is rebirth for real - either as a human or in one of the other realms?
This is the question most Westerners ask as soon as they become
interested in Buddhism. Karma (Pali: Kamma) - the law of cause and
effect - operates across multiple lifetimes, but where's the proof that
there is any life other than the current one?

It's a complex subject and each tradition has its own explanation. It
isn't uncommon for different teachers in the same tradition to have a
different take on rebirth. One thing's for sure, there is no scientific
proof of rebirth (yet). There are rational explanations, but they all
rest on unprovable assumptions.

One way to approach the question of rebirth is suggested by Thanissaro
Bhikkhu, who says, "You don't have to believe in rebirth, you
just have to take it as a working hypothesis." Other teachers, such as
Ajahn Summedho, have a similar view, that since we can never know what
will happen after death, it makes sense to practise Dharma (Pali:
Dhamma) and live this life in the best way possible.

Some well-known monks, Ajahn Brahm and P.A. Payutto among them, say
that when meditators reach the third or fourth jhana (level of
absorbtion) they are able to "read their past lives" as the Buddha did
and experience the truth of rebirth. But this ability is by no means
universal, even among meditation masters.

Another explanation championed by Buddhadasa, Thailand's most revered
monk, is that rebirth in a series of physical bodies is "conventional
talk" to make the subject understandable for the masses, but in "Dharma
talk" what the Buddha really meant was that each life was the arising
of the ego in the mind. So we experience "death" and "rebirth" (of the
ego) many times each day.

Similarly, the six realms of existence all correspond to states of
mind. In the same way, the cause and effect of karma can be observed in
our own mental states - when we do good deeds it results in a wholesome
mental state, when we do bad deeds, we experience unwholesome mental
states.

This rational explanation of rebirth and karma doesn't necessarily
exclude the traditional view. It augments it. What works for me is to
take both of them as working hypotheses and practise accordingly.
Recalling the Buddha's story about the man shot with a poisoned arrow,
if we need to have every detail of the teaching proved to us at the
outset, we'll be dead before we start practising.

What is our purpose in life?

The traditional answer to this is that our purpose is to attain nirvana
and stop the endless cycle of rebirths and suffering. But the idea
of a general purpose for mankind suggests that someone or something
created that purpose, which in turn suggests an omnipotent deity.

The way I think of it is that we have no pre-ordained purpose. We
evolved, and here we are. Because we also evolved language and
conceptual thinking, we got stuck with this concept of a self, an ego
that makes us feel separate from everything else. The ego needs
constant reassurance of its importance, which is why we cling to our
views and defend them fanatically, and why we are constantly
criticizing others. Our ego rules our lives. It is terrified of being
snuffed out.

We handle this in different ways. Some of us have lots of kids so we
can feel that a part of us lives on forever through our descendants.
Some of us perform heroic deeds so that our names will live on in
history forever. Some of us get onto Ripley's Believe It Or Not with
the world's longest moustache or beating the world record for smashing
melons with our head, or some such nonsense, so that we'll achieve
digital immortality. Some of us cling to the idea that a god will give
us eternal life in some form after death.

For those of us who don't find this pseudo-immortality or unguaranteed
immortality satisfying, there's a need to create our own purpose in
life. This is where Buddhism fits the bill nicely. Instead of being
ruled by the ego and its fears, get rid of it! Being rid of the ego and
the suffering it brings is what Ajahn Jagaro called "True Freedom" - a
very appealing idea for all of us.

If we don't achieve true freedom in this life, we should get another
chance in a future life. But simply diminishing the ego and increasing
freedom in this life seems like a worthwhile purpose to me.

How to become a Buddhist

Unlike the Abrahamic faiths, Buddhism has no conversion ceremony, and it is not necessary to
renounce any other beliefs. There is the ceremony of taking the Three Refuges (the Buddha,
the Dharma, and the Sangha), often performed along with a ceremony agreeing to keep the 5 precepts, but
these are both optional. In fact, many Westerners prefer not to call themselves Buddhists at all.

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